`Whispers' Are Loud To Mchale Ritter Denies He's Spread Rumors On Military Record

August 28, 1992|by MARGIE PETERSON, The Morning Call

Paul McHale charged yesterday that U.S. Rep. Don Ritter, his aides and supporters have conducted a whispering campaign to discredit McHale's military service.

He claims they also contacted Marine reservists asking for access to McHale's military records and any damaging information on him.

"During the past year, Congressman Ritter, his staff and political supporters have carried out a carefully orchestrated whispering campaign designed to slander my years of military service," said McHale, the Democratic candidate running against Ritter for the 15th Congressional District.

Ritter said he had heard rumors about McHale's military service but denied he had spread any. He said he knows of no staff member or campaign volunteer who engaged in a whispering campaign or attempted to get McHale's military records or contact McHale's fellow reservists about McHale's military service.

Ritter's campaign aide Michael Solomon acknowledged that he spoke to others about the rumors but said it was not a whispering campaign.

A major in the Marine Corp Reserve, McHale served two stints in the Persian Gulf during the war.

The rumors include that McHale volunteered to serve in the Persian Gulf to enhance his political career and that he exaggerated his role in the Persian Gulf.

"Basically what Mr. Ritter's supporters have been doing, over an extended period of time, is secretly calling Marine Reserve units with which I've been associated over the years to ask individuals who have access to the records to review those records or otherwise to explain and provide information they thought would be damaging to my candidacy," McHale said at a news conference.

He said one of the people seeking such information was a Republican staffer in Washington, D.C., but not on Ritter's staff.

McHale said in the past several months he has been approached about the rumors by reporters, political leaders, military personnel and others.

"Many of these rumors have been traced directly to Michael Solomon, Mr. Ritter's general campaign consultant," said McHale, who added that an Allentown lawyer contacted him to say he had heard the rumors from Solomon.

"Don Ritter should either stop the whisper campaign or find the courage to personally step forward and make his accusations," McHale said.

McHale said a former Ritter staff member told him that Ritter had bragged that he had a plan to discredit McHale's military service.

"Horse manure," Ritter responded, denying he had ever said that.

Ritter said he would have had to be "deaf, dumb and blind" not to have heard rumors questioning McHale's military service but that it was a problem McHale had with the veterans community and he was not involved in it.

"It's really between Paul McHale and the veterans community," Ritter said. "I find him blaming me for this offensive."

Solomon may have discussed McHale's military service with a few people, but he knew of no staff or volunteers who were part of a whispering campaign, Ritter said. Ritter said he would condemn a whispering campaign.

In a phone interview, Solomon acknowledged that he had heard the rumors and spoken to people about questions on McHale's military service but said that did not constitute a whispering campaign.

"I don't do whispers," Solomon said. He said if people bring up "issues" to him it's his job to check them out. But to use such information in the campaign he would have to have evidence that the information was true, and so far the information he has heard failed his "veracity test."

Talking to people about such rumors is part of "opposition research," Solomon said. Asked if he spoke to an Allentown lawyer about the rumors, as McHale charged, Solomon said, "I talk to a lot of people. Do they include Allentown lawyers? Yes." He said he would not dignify McHale's claim with a response unless McHale provided the name of the lawyer.

Solomon said he could not rule out McHale's military service as a campaign issue.

"If he had said something and did something quite differently, will that be an issue? Absolutely," Solomon said.

One person who says McHale exaggerated his military record and went to the Persian Gulf to advance his political career is retired Marine Reserve Col. Robert Mirth of Seisholtzville, Berks County, who has been active in Lehigh Valley veterans groups.

Mirth said he has never told Ritter about his claims or contacted the Ritter staff about them. But other Marines have asked him about McHale's military service, and he doesn't know if any of them were Ritter supporters, Mirth said.

"Maybe through a conversation it got back to him," Mirth said. He acknowledged that he had contacted people McHale served with in the Gulf to find out about his service and sought access to McHale's military record.

McHale said Mirth is a friend of Ritter's. He said he has never served with Mirth, so any information Mirth claimed to have was not firsthand. He said he thinks Mirth is trying to discredit him because there were several "melodramatic" news stories about McHale when he was in the Gulf, and Mirth is convinced McHale and his wife were churning out press releases to get the attention.

Both McHale and Ritter have signed a League of Women Voters pledge to condemn whispering campaigns.

Both candidates expressed interest in getting back to substantive issues, and McHale detailed his support for the Brady bill, which requires a five-day waiting period to buy handguns, and a crime bill.